TY  - BOOK
AU  - Margaret Fleming-Markarian
PY  - 2012
CY  - Oxford, United Kingdom
PB  - Peter Lang Verlag
SN  - 9783035302868
TI  - Symbolism in Nineteenth-Century Ballet
T2  - "Giselle</I>, "Coppélia</I>, "The Sleeping Beauty</I> and "Swan Lake</I>
DO  - 10.3726/978-3-0353-0286-8
UR  - https://www.peterlang.com/document/1052054
N2  - This book investigates allegorical meaning in the ballets Giselle, Coppélia, The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, principally by examining their original librettos and costume designs, as well as considering their surviving choreographic legacy. Each ballet is examined scene by scene in order to identify occult symbols secreted within its structure. The names of characters, their costume details (form, colour, pattern and attribute) and the parts they play and dance (mime, choreographic step and staging) are individually searched for symbolic correspondences.  The author argues that the meaning of these symbols reveals a serious subtext embedded within each ballet and shows that these subtexts are all found to fable the spiritual journey of the soul towards a heavenly paradise. The distinctive set of symbols and the method of interpretation differ in each case: Giselle takes on a Swedenborgian slant, Coppélia hinges on Masonry, while The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake are steeped in mysticism.
KW  - nineteenth-century Symbolism, the Romantic spirit world, Giselle as a Swedenborgian ballet, The Sleeping Beauty as a mystical fairytale ballet, Swan Lake as a Slavic supernatural ballet, Coppélia as a Masonic ballet
LA  - English
ER  -